With the advancement of wireless communication technology, various wireless communication systems are developed, such as Bluetooth (BT), wireless local area network (WLAN), 3G, LTE, high speed packet access (HSPA), WiMAX, etc. Supporting various wireless communication systems in a consumer electronic device (such as notebook/laptop/personal computer, PDA, hand-held videogame device, etc.), is a key and remarkable feature. Therefore, how to integrate multiple wireless communication modules and antennas in a restricted space of an electronic device has become a challenge because layout method, isolation, interference, efficiency, or any other factors, which may affect performance of the wireless communication systems, should be considered at the same time.
For example, please refer to FIG. 1, which is a schematic diagram of a notebook 100 of the prior art. The notebook 100 includes a WLAN processing unit 105 and a BT processing unit 106 in a host part 102, to process signals of WLAN and BT respectively. To effectively receive or transmit wireless signals of WLAN and BT, antennas 107 and 109 are respectively disposed in a display part 101 of the notebook 100 for better reception. The antennas 107 and 109 are coupled to antenna connectors on the WLAN processing unit 105 and the BT processing unit 106 through metal coaxial cables 108 and 110, respectively. The metal coaxial cables 108 and 110 are required to be isolated, to prevent interference while transmitting signals to the corresponding units, because both WLAN and BT can be operate in the ISM frequency band around 2.4 GHz. In the prior art, the required isolation is achieved by covering the coaxial cables 108 and 110 with metal isolation layer.
In addition, the WLAN processing unit 105 and the BT processing unit 106 are coupled to a main board of the notebook 100 via a mini PCI-e interface and a USB connector, which takes much space, and is a disadvantage because all the portable devices have to be thin, light and small. Moreover, the isolated coaxial cables and the antenna connectors on the processing units also increase manufacturing cost. Furthermore, the huge number of parts and processing steps also make the manufacturing process complicated.
Therefore, there is a need to design a wireless communication module that is small and easy to be integrated into a portable device.
Accordingly, there is a desire therefore for a system and method to allowing for improved communication between devices that include a wireless interface. This system should be easy to implement, cost effective, and adaptable to existing systems. The present invention addresses such a need.